G42, an artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing firm based in the United Arab Emirates, has launched a $10 billion fund to invest in late-stage growth technology companies.
The G42 Expansion Fund will focus on technologies that “promise to shape the global economic landscape in the next decades, such as computing and communications technologies, intelligent mobility, clean tech and renewables, digital infrastructures, new materials, multiverses, FinTech, healthcare and life sciences,” according to a Thursday (Aug. 18) press release.
The fund was formed in partnership with Abu Dhabi Growth Fund (ADG) and will be managed by a subsidiary of G42, with investments mainly centered around “high growth” areas.
“With the G42 Expansion Fund, we aim to accelerate our global impact not only through the deployment of capital, but also by providing unique access to our networks, management and operational assets to our portfolio companies,” said G42 Group CEO Peng Xiao. “We are eager to engage with trailblazing entrepreneurs who share our core values and growth ambitions, and we are excited to be partnering with ADG to further cement Abu Dhabi as a global hub for innovation and progress.”
The UAE as a whole is increasingly becoming a major center of FinTech innovation in the Middle East, home to both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which is also a booming center of international finance.
Read more: The UAE’s Increasing Role as a Regional FinTech Hub
The UAE has signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India, which went into effect in May with the goal of helping to boost trade and make connections between the business communities of the the two countries.
Beyond this initiative, another major factor in this swift acceleration in FinTech innovation comes from the government, with millions of dollars being channeled into the startup ecosystem in recent years via sovereign wealth funds (SWF) such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the largest such funds in the world with close to $700 billion in assets.
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